The 49-year-old pliers-wielding robber who got knocked out by a 22-year-old gas station clerk earlier this month will likely spend between 9-and-a-half and 30 years in prison after taking a plea deal in the Washtenaw County Trial Court Thursday.

Frederick Coble pleaded no contest to one count of armed robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit larceny in a building.

Coble couldn't plead guilty to the charges because he had no memory of the incident, according to his attorney, Assistant Washtenaw County Public Defender Stephen Adams.

In exchange for the plea, Judge Darlene O'Brien said she would agree to the 9-and-a-half to-30 year term and not sentence Coble, who was on parole at the time of the bungled robbery, as a habitual offender.

Christina Borcea (left) and Frederick CobleCourtesy of WCSO

Coble asked the judge for leniency after Adams explained the plea deal to him in court.

"Is there any way I could ask the mercy of the court to get a little lesser time?" he asked O'Brien.

The judge will make that decision after reviewing the pre-sentence report, Adams explained to his client.

Sentencing was set for June 12.

His girlfriend, 48-year-old Christina Maria Borcea, also appeared in court on the same charges. Her case was adjourned until June 5 so she can consider a sentencing deal.

Police released a video last week of the couple going on a cigarette-stealing rampage at the Speedway gas station located at 1300 North Maple in Ann Arbor.

The video shows a man and a woman entering the gas station around 12:30 a.m. May 1. Coble and Borcea later told police they had been drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine and came to the gas station with the intention of stealing cigarettes.

The clerk was in the cooler behind the register when the man and woman, believed to be Coble and Borcea, walked in and began plundering cigarettes from behind the register.

When the 22-year-old clerk walked out, the two pretended like they're going to pay for the numerous packs of cigarettes. Then Coble attacked the 22-year-old with a pair of pliers.

But the clerk took him down so hard that Coble was briefly incapacitated. The 22-year-old then fled the store to call police.

The woman then attempted to rouse the knocked-out Coble, but when she can't, she reached into the still-open cash register, grabbed fistfuls of bills and took off running, dropping much of the cash on her way out.

Police found $142 in the rear of the store. There was $80 missing from the till. Borcea later admitted to police she used that money to buy crack cocaine and heroin, according to the police report.

The video shows Coble regaining consciousness a few moments later and stumbling out the door.

A few days later, officers on patrol arrested Coble riding a bike near Dexter Avenue and Barber Street in Ann Arbor after recognizing him from the security video. He was on parole at the time. Coble asked if he could take the bike back to his girlfriend at the Arbor Landing Apartments before he was arrested, police said. Officers came with him and recognized Borcea from the surveillance video. She was also arrested.

They both confessed. The two are being held on $250,000 cash bonds.

John Counts covers crime and breaking news for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.